PITTSBURGH — The knee-jerk reaction is to think back to Connecticut last year, when a share of the Big East title was at stake in the regular-season finale and Rutgers suffered an epic meltdown against a mediocre opponent.

Except this was different, and not just because the Scarlet Knights still managed to back into at least a share of the program’s first league title on Saturday.

Because while Pittsburgh beat up on No. 21-ranked Rutgers, 27-6, in a thorough manhandling at Heinz Field, the reality is it doesn’t change anything for the Scarlet Knights.

They still win the Big East title outright by beating Louisville at home Thursday night.
They still earn a BCS bowl by winning then as well.

“Second chances are great,” said cornerback Logan Ryan. “They’re rarely given. But it’s something we earned through what we did early in the year.

“Now we’ve got to take advantage of it.”

So there is solace for Rutgers (9-2 overall, 5-1 Big East), even after a game in which the offense spun its wheels for four quarters, managing a season-low 207 yards, a season-low 50 yards rushing (after churning out 234 last week) and when the defense was mediocre and the special teams non-existent.

“It feels bad right now because you’re a competitor and you don’t like to lose and you just let something slip away,” safety Duron Harmon said. “But all of our goals are still attainable.”

Adding to the frustration of the loss to the Panthers (5-6, 2-4) is that Rutgers could have won the Big East title outright, earning a BCS bid, with a victory because of Louisville’s 23-20 triple overtime loss to Connecticut.

Instead, the Rutgers-Louisville game becomes a winner-take all for the league’s BCS bowl berth (though there can be as much as a four-way tie for first if Louisville wins; the Cardinals, however, own the tiebreakers in that scenario).

“I wouldn’t say that eases the sting, because we looked at this as a championship game,” linebacker Steve Beauharnais said. “We didn’t seize the opportunity. Most times you don’t get second chances. We’re fortunate. All the chips are still out there on the table for us.”

Rutgers looked like a lifeless, beaten team by halftime, with Pitt building a 21-0 lead and the Knights countering with eight punts and by going three-and-out on five of their first six possessions.

It never became a game, either, with Elizabeth native Ray Graham (113 rushing yards, one TD) and quarterback Tino Sunseri pushing the Panthers’ advantage to 24-0 before Rutgers broke through with 1:43 left in the third quarter.

To a man, the Knights insisted afterward that the Big Ten news from this week wasn’t a distraction, but this didn’t look like a team that was ready to play at any point. Rutgers had 50 yards on 27 plays in the first half, with quarterback Gary Nova finishing 18-of-37 for 157 yards.

“Guys were excited. Guys were prepared,” said linebacker Khaseem Greene. “At the end of the day, they just out-executed us.”

And for one of the few times this season, the offense, defense and special teams couldn’t bail out the other struggling units.

“They beat us. We didn’t execute. I can’t make any excuses,” Nova said.